


the printer dweller

by jjokkiri



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 14:15:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10855686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjokkiri/pseuds/jjokkiri
Summary: Minhyuk hides in the crack between the photocopiers, but somehow, he manages to find romance in there.





	the printer dweller

**Author's Note:**

  * For [puppykihyun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/puppykihyun/gifts).



> Because _someone_ told me that I don't write fluff enough and that all my fluff is from back when I just joined AO3, and I felt the intense desire to fight. I hope you enjoy this, you shit. And to everyone else, I hope you enjoy some useless Joohyuk fluff!

“Mr. Lee, by all means common expectations of workplace behaviour—I insist I mean no offense—but, I don’t think responsible secretaries are supposed to be hiding out in the photocopying room, eating snacks,” the timid-looking intern, with a mess of blond curls atop his head, quietly said, leaning against the door and staring at Minhyuk with wary eyes. Lee Minhyuk, twenty-four and a proud secretary to Yoo Kihyun—his best friend of twenty years—sat in the space between the photocopiers, chocolate chip cookie between his fingers and halfway to his mouth.

Miffed, Minhyuk huffed and put the cookie back into the box, crossing his arms over his chest. “Intern, by all means of common expectations of workplace behaviour, I don’t think you should be questioning the actions of your seniors.”

“… I will continue with my job, then,” he replied, nodding quietly and moving to place papers into the photocopier just to Minhyuk’s left. There was a silence between them for a moment, the only sound echoing throughout the room being Minhyuk’s fingers reaching into the box of cookies and the shuffling of paper, followed by the sound of the laser blazing underneath the glass of the scanner, before more paper shuffled out of the bulky printer.

“I remember when Kihyun made me do this crap. I wished upon his death every single day he sent me to the photocopying room with a stack of papers that weighed as much as his goddamn ass,” Minhyuk murmured. The intern raised an eyebrow, before he cleared his throat, pretending that he hadn’t heard what Minhyuk said. The red-haired secretary narrowed his eyes at the boy. “Intern, I’m talking to you!”

“Yes, sir! I’m sorry, what was I supposed to say in response to your ill-wishing of our boss?” a pause, “And whatever you propose I respond with, I would like to forewarn that I’d very much like to keep my job until at least I get the tuition deduction bonus from the company.”

Minhyuk snorted at the remark, biting into the chocolate chip cookie and rolling his eyes, “I won’t tell anyone if you shit-talk Kihyun.”

“Mr. Yoo is a frightening man,” the intern replied, carefully stapling a couple sheets of paper together and placing them to the side, “The interns all say that he has five-thousand ears placed all around the office and he _knows_ if you say bad things about him.”

“What’s so scary about Kihyun?” Minhyuk made a face, scrunching up his nose as he tried to imagine his best friend being scary. He supposed that he was simply desensitized to everything Yoo Kihyun did, because he’d seen him as a mess of stupidity, too many times. “It’s not like he could actually hurt you. He’s like three feet tall.”

Closing the scanner again and pressing a few buttons on the screen of the machine, the boy pursed his lips before turning to Minhyuk and making a sound he assumed was supposed to sound like a frightening ghost—or maybe a bad impression of Kihyun when he was dying from stomach cramps, on days Minhyuk made lunch.

“No, he can’t hurt me. But,” the intern lowered his voice to a scandalous stage whisper and he cupped his mouth as if he were actually trying to whisper, “He could _fire_ me.”

Minhyuk barked a laugh at that, his head knocking back against the wall with the force of the laugh. From the corner of his eye, Minhyuk could see that the intern was grinning in amusement, pleased to see that the red-haired secretary was laughing at his remark.

“No one fires interns, silly,” Minhyuk told him. The intern shrugged.

“You never know,” he said, “I could be the first for agreeing with you when you call our boss a dwarf.”

Minhyuk cackled at that, “I didn’t call him a dwarf! You said that!”

Feigning a horrified expression, despite his eyes twinkling with amusement, the intern grinned, “But, you promised that you wouldn’t tell anyone if I shit-talked, right?”

He couldn’t tell if it was just the lack of rest or the continuous sound of the photocopier driving him insane that triggered it, but suddenly, he was laughing so hard that he couldn’t breathe. The box of cookies knocked over and Minhyuk, dressed in a fancy suit and looking all professional, practically suffocated himself with laughter on the ground. Truthfully, the boy’s words weren’t that funny, but something about the entire situation made it entirely too funny.

“Hey, intern,” Minhyuk called, after finally catching his breath. He had to heave a couple more breaths, tears glistening in his eyes as he drew slow breaths.

The boy looked to him, curiously, “Yes, sir?”

“You’re kind of funny. What’s your name?”

“Jooheon, sir,” he replied, “Lee Jooheon. Third-year tech major on a cooperative education term, sir.”

“Okay, Jooheon,” Minhyuk said, “Why do you talk so formally?”

“On orientation day, they told us that were supposed to talk like we were actually running a business, even if all we did was run back and forth to Starbucks and to the photocopier, sir,” Jooheon said. Minhyuk arched an eyebrow.

“Call me _‘hyung’_ ,” Minhyuk told him. Jooheon nodded.

“Did your recruiter tell you that bull-crap?” Minhyuk inquired and Jooheon hid a smile.

“Recruiter Shin has a way with his words,” Jooheon replied.

“Of _course_ , it was Hoseok,” Minhyuk snorted. “Don’t trust him, he just gets a kick out of seeing newbies trying to be all stoic and professional.”

Jooheon grinned and he shrugged, “I’m okay with that, though.”

Grabbing a couple more sheets of paper and stapling them together, Jooheon slid them into the folder and flashed the older man a polite nod.

“It was a pleasure speaking to you, Minhyuk hyung,” Jooheon smiled, “I have to head back, now.”

Minhyuk offered a quick wave, “Don’t tell anyone I’m here.”

“Of course.”

 

 

 

“We have to stop meeting like this,” Minhyuk sighed, leaning his head back against the printer from his spot between the two printers, when they find one another in the photocopying room for the nth time since their first encounter. This time, Minhyuk had a box of Oreos in his hands—Jooheon barely spared the snack a glance, when he’d entered the room with an amused grin on his lips, as if he’d anticipated that Minhyuk would be in his designated corner.

“No, it’s kind of cute. This is only the third time, right? I’m starting to wonder how you manage to fit into that crack,” Jooheon remarked, his hands routinely putting the papers into the copier and stacking them neatly into a pile.

“There’s a lot of room here,” Minhyuk replied. “We could probably fit another person here.”

“I sincerely hope that isn’t an invitation for me to try to fit in that crack with you,” Jooheon replied, smiling in amusement before he closed the scanner and collected his papers in a neat folder. Minhyuk secretly envied his organizational skills. Kihyun would die for a secretary who actually knew how to label his folders instead of just being really good at finding things in the middle of a disastrous pile. “I unfortunately don’t have the time to stay and talk today, hyung.”

“That’s okay,” Minhyuk answered. “I’ll see you.”

Jooheon smiled, “Bye!”

The intern paused before he left the room, raising a finger as if an important idea had struck him suddenly, “You know, if you were a ghost haunting the photocopying room, you’d be a cute one. I’d be terrified, but you’re at least cute.”

And then, he was leaving. Minhyuk smiled to himself, wrapping his arms around himself with a quiet laugh.

_That was important enough._

 

Minhyuk really didn’t hide away from his job in the photocopying room, often. He really didn’t. It just happened to be where Jooheon always found him, crouching in the small space between the two photocopiers. But, despite everything, somehow during the next time Minhyuk sees Jooheon, he made an effort to jam the printer so they could have the time to talk.

And according to plan, the paper jammed in the printer when the boy entered the room with his stack of papers to photocopy. It reminded Minhyuk of when he first applied to work with Kihyun and his best friend had become the epitome of Satan, acquainting him generously with the photocopier. Just, Minhyuk had to wonder if he looked as cute as Jooheon did, when he was confused as to why the printer was flashing an orange light and beeping incessantly.

“Need help?” he offered, after a moment of watching Jooheon stare at the photocopier. Somewhere in the back of his head, he wondered what kind of tech major got so flustered in front of a jammed printer. It was cute.

Jooheon nodded, “Please?”

“On one condition,” Minhyuk replied, standing up and brushing off his slacks. Jooheon looked at him.

“Anything?” he said, voice lilting as if he were asking a question rather than responding. And maybe, he was asking a question, but Minhyuk brushed it off.

“You should sit in the corner with me and talk, before you go back to work,” Minhyuk told him, nodding firmly. Jooheon stared at him, gaze withering before he nodded.

“I guess,” he sighed, “I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“You do,” Minhyuk replied. “You could try and fix the photocopier yourself, and maybe make it worse. Or you could let a seasoned professional do it, all for the price if sitting in a crack between two photocopiers and skipping out on work for a little bit.”

“This is ridiculous,” Jooheon sighed, but he obediently sat down in the space, replacing where Minhyuk had been sitting.

Smiling in satisfaction, Minhyuk cracked his knuckles, before opening the paper tray and tugging out the little folded triangle he’d shoved into the tray, just earlier. Jooheon stared at him in disbelief and Minhyuk pretended he didn’t notice it at all.

“That was it?” Jooheon asked, when Minhyuk slid the tray back in and the beeping stopped, light flashing back to a solid green colour.

Humming, the red-haired secretary discarded the triangle of paper and he slid into the space next to Jooheon with a smile. It was barely a tight fit.

“You made a promise,” Minhyuk sang, cheerfully.

“You’re a snake,” Jooheon replied.

Minhyuk pursed his lips, “Is that what college students call it, nowadays?”

“You should probably give me your number instead of hiding in corners and taking random chances at trying to see me in the photocopying room,” Jooheon said. “Since, you do get paid to do something here.”

“A-are you flirting with me?” Minhyuk asked, blinking repeatedly. “Uhm, somehow, _responsibly_ flirting with me?”

Jooheon’s lips tugged into a small smile.

“Took you a while to realize, hyung.”

 

 

 

It kind of becomes a routine. The whole meeting in the photocopying room and watching Minhyuk eat snacks before squeezing into the space between the photocopying machines and talking. It wasn’t as weird as it might have sounded to other people, and Minhyuk quite enjoyed sharing the small space with Jooheon.

It was almost like it was their own little space: the crack between the two photocopiers. A place only for weirdoes like them to enjoy. Somehow, it almost sounded romantic.

Every three days, he would see Jooheon in the photocopying room. And then, it became every two days; then every single day, he would see him during his break. It was almost amazing that they rarely saw one another outside of the photocopying room. The office was too big for Minhyuk to be able to find the younger man, when he was forced to sit outside Kihyun’s office for hours on end.

And it happened to be a Thursday when Minhyuk glanced up at the papers Jooheon was photocopying, only to realize that they were completely blank. He was printing out sheets of blank paper. Completely blank.

“You aren’t even printing anything,” Minhyuk remarked.

Sheepishly, Jooheon looked away and hid a shy smile behind his fist, embarrassed at being caught. “I know,” he said, quietly.

“Are you just here to see me?”

“Yes,” Jooheon admitted, cheeks flushed. “I’m here to visit the strange, strangely attractive man who haunts the photocopying room.”

Minhyuk bit back a smile, “Do you like me, Jooheon?”

“Maybe a little bit.”

“Good.”

It seemed to catch the younger man by surprise, because he stared at Minhyuk silently for a moment, before tearing his eyes away.

“Intern,” Minhyuk called. Jooheon looked to him, shyly and Minhyuk suddenly felt a surge of affection pooling in his chest. “Come here.”

“Yes, sir,” Jooheon murmured, coming to stand by Minhyuk’s feet.

The older man could hardly help the smile burning across his face.

“No, come here,” he repeated, patting the spot next to him. Shyly, Jooheon moved into the space next to Minhyuk. When Jooheon awkwardly settled, Minhyuk exhaled a short, bubbly breath. “Now, close your eyes.”

Jooheon easily obeyed his instructions, and then Minhyuk’s slender fingers were against his jaw. And then, soft lips were pressed to Jooheon’s. It took a moment to register as they both sat frozen in place. It was barely enough time for Minhyuk to let regret pool in his gut, because maybe this was far from the best decision. When the realization struck, Jooheon’s eyes flew open and Minhyuk quickly placed a hand on top of one of Jooheon’s, soothing.

“Keep your eyes closed,” Minhyuk whispered against his lips.

The intern easily obeyed that. And Minhyuk didn’t need to tell him, because they were suddenly kissing—eyes closed and fluttering hearts pounding against their chests. Minhyuk secretly couldn’t help but think: _this must be what it feels like to star in the blooming of an office romance._

And then, he snapped out of it. Quick and abrupt, Minhyuk pulled away from Jooheon with his eyes wide in horror.

“Are you legal? Please, tell me you’re legal and that I didn’t just kiss a minor,” Minhyuk whispered, hitting his head with the base of his palm, desperately. “You look like a baby, a cute little baby and I kind of do want to kiss you again, but _tell me you’re legal._ ”

“I think you’re a little late, hyung,” he teased. Minhyuk’s expression morphed, completely mortified. Jooheon’s eyes gleamed and he bit back obvious laughter at Minhyuk’s belated reaction, “I’m twenty-one, hyung. As legal as can be. You _may_ kiss me again, if you want to.”

Groaning, Minhyuk smashed his head against the side of the printer with a loud _thud_. Jooheon winced at the sound, before Minhyuk’s hand grasped at his tie and he narrowed his eyes at the intern with a displeased frown.

“You’re a sly one,” Minhyuk murmured, tugging the younger man towards him by his tie, _“I like it.”_

And they were leaning towards one another again, hearts racing in their chests.

The moment was suddenly ruined by the sound of the door slamming open and they pulled apart immediately, eyes widened as they looked to the door.

“The photocopying room wasn’t meant for making copies of yourselves,” Hoseok quipped. “That’s what Kihyun told me to tell you. I think he said that a few days ago, actually. And also, Minhyuk, you’re supposed to be in a meeting right now with Kihyun, aren’t you? As for you, Jooheonnie, my dearest favourite intern, don’t you have a report to submit to me?”

Flustered, both of the men scrambled to their feet. Jooheon quickly bowed to Hoseok before straightening out his tie and rushing out of the room. Minhyuk crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at Hoseok, eyeing the older man, displeased.

“I’m sorry for interrupting you from getting some,” Hoseok told him, patting his back. “I just thought that I needed to remind you that there _are_ security cameras in here, and Hyunwoo and I can see _everything_ and it was starting to get a little uncomfortable. Monitoring your little soap opera in here was thrilling until you started making out in here.”

A pause, “You know, Hyunwoo hyung bet that Jooheon would kiss you first. He owes me twenty, now.”

Minhyuk rolled his eyes, “Fuck off, Hoseok.”

“I’m sure he’d be down to make out some more _after_ work hours,” Hoseok supplied, flashing a cheerful smile.

“Tell that to Kihyun,” Minhyuk retorted, glaring at the older man, “I’m sure everyone knows what you two do in his office.”

Hoseok didn’t even bat an eyelash and he smiled at the secretary, “We’re actually currently having a bit of a lover’s spat, so I’d say _‘fuck you’_ , but I think Jooheon will quite soon have that all under control.”

Minhyuk threw the keys to the photocopying room at Hoseok and stormed out of the room, cheeks bright red and he cleared his throat, intensely flustered at the remark. The security guard cum recruitment officer had too many ways of flustering him and he hated it—in all ways that friends could. Hoseok easily caught the keys and slipped them into his pocket with a pleasant smile.

_“Fuck you!”_

“You too!” Hoseok answered, cheerfully, “Remember to report to Kihyunnie’s office, Minhyukkie, he wanted to see you!”


End file.
